Hanoi (VNA)♐ – Proactively popularising Vietnam’s cultural values to the world and bringing into play the soft power of culture to help promote the country’s status in the international arena is one of the targets determined in the cultural development strategy until 2030.

Over the past years, Vietnam has been striving to popularise images of its land and people so as to help uphold the national cultural identity, join humankind’s civilisation, and adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The year 2021 was the seventh time Vietnam had taken part in a World Expo. The Vietnam Pavilion at World Expo 2020 Dubai was located in the “Opportunity” district and themed “Distilling the Past, Shaping the Future”. Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong said the pavilion reflected the Vietnamese Government’s strong commitment and enormous efforts to promote the country’s images, bring into play the strength of cultural values and the Vietnamese people’s creativity, and make the country be part of the “brilliant colours” of the world. Struggling against the pandemic’s impacts, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has proactively boosted tourism promotion on digital platforms with a focus on the key markets of international tourists so as to attract them back to the country. Recently, a video clip titled “Live fully in Vietnam” made debut in coincidence with the time the country was welcoming the first foreign visitors under a pilot “vaccine passport” scheme, marking a new stride in efforts to recover the tourism industry. Assoc. Prof. and Dr Nguyen Huu Thuc, a lecturer from the Hanoi-based National University of Arts Education, said the cultural identity of a country holds an important role in the development of that nation. It is not immutable but can be developed to match the reality, including the intensive globalisation and international integration. Many experts shared the view that cultural diplomacy has helped introduce Vietnam’s land, culture, history, and people to the world. In recent years, Vietnam has organised cultural days, weeks, and festivals in many countries which in turn have also held their cultural events in the Southeast Asian nation with a view to enhancing mutual understanding. In addition, several individuals have also been appointed as cultural ambassadors to spread cultural values of each country. The strategy for developing Vietnam’s cultural industries until 2020 with a vision to 2030, which targeted the development of cultural industries in tandem with the dissemination of the country’s images, has helped protect and bring into play the national cultural identity during the international integration and cooperation process. This is also in line with the role of culture as a driver for economic development stated in the documents of the 13th National Party Congress./.